Jeff Fitzgerald is moving up, and shouldn't be ruled out as an alternative to Thompson, especially if the Hovde-Neumann battle becomes even more negative (which hopefully won't happen).

There ought to be, and I assume there will be, one or more forums organized by Tea Party forces in which people present their views on who would be the best alternative to Thompson (in particular on who would be most electable for the general), and try to reach a consensus. Ideally respected opinion leaders not affiliated with either candidate, like Althouse, Vicki McKenna, Mark Belling, Charlie Sykes, etc., would be in some way involved with such discussions, if not in person then chiming in using their soapboxes.

Fortunately all 4 of the candidates would make a fine addition to the U.S. Senate, and would run strongly in the general. As long as we avoid extreme negativity that might taint the winner of the primary, the difficulties associated with choosing among the candidates are good problems to have.

Eric Hovde will win the primary election by 1-2 points, and then will defeat Tammy Baldwin by 4-6 points in the general election.

Hovde is a very smart guy and understands the budget, banking system, and Treasury Dept like no other candidate in this race. He deserves to win.

Tommy Thompson, should he win, will be an excellent senator. He knows his way around DC. The problem with him is that he is most likely a one-termer, where Hovde would be in that seat for at least two terms.

Mark Neumann is highly unlikeable in person. Ornery, abrupt, sometimes hostile when questioned. Baldwin's team can hurt him greatly by using his background in several failed housing companies. He'd likely lose the general election.

"AllieOop said...Tammy Baldwin's work with "buy American" and the Coast Guard plays very well. She comes across as a down home Wisconsin gal in her ads. I think she has a good chance of winning over all comers."

LOL She is running unopposed and the GOP candidates are concentrating on differentiation to get their nomination. Tammy Baldwin is a lefty and an idiot. That will surely come out in the election. She has decade long voting record as a hard lefty. She was prominent in the recall campaign. She will be toast.

1) Neumann is A) Too angry and II) a liar. Also calling his grandson a 'rascal' in the new commercials is just grating.

2) Hovde is a carpet bagger and no different than Darrow or Michels from the last campaign when they thought they could buy the election.

IF Hovde, after moving back two years ago, had been made himself more well-known in Republican circles I wouldn't feel this way but to have him show up out of nowhere and portray himself as 'Ron Johnson, Jr.' is just too fake for me.

3) Tommy, who increased State spending AND the deficit under his watch is not conservative enough. Plus at his age he will most likely be a term Senator while the others could serve 2 or 3.

4) This leaves Fitzgerald, my first choice. The problem is that I don't know if he can beat Baldwin.

Baldwin's commercials have buried her screaming Leftist views - in the same way that what's-his-name, the Senator that lost to Johnson did: she portray's herself as a rational populist all the while she are plotting to put people in chains.

Tiger interesting comment about Michels. Barbara Michels is extremely political still, has book club meetings in her home in which kids are given political coloring books, talk about indoctrinating them young.

Thanks Trad guy, that's sweet. We have Culvers here, much beloved in Wisconsin, the butter bacon cheeseburger will clog up your arteries faster than the Chick a Fil, no doubt, we don't fool around here in God's Cpuntry! ;)

"We have Culvers here, much beloved in Wisconsin, the butter bacon cheeseburger will clog up your arteries faster than the Chick a Fil, no doubt, we don't fool around here in God's Country!" (slightly edited)

For an outside the box opinion of fat, checkout this website and see what a low carb high fat diet has done for his cholesterol levels, mainly his triglycerides to HDL ratio. He is a friend of Gary Taubes and they recently teamed up on a new endeavor. I think you believe in the low carb diet unless I'm mistaken. http://eatingacademy.com/

Dreams, true, I do eat low carb and the part of the butter burger that will probably clog your arteries is the bread. I throw it away. I'll look up his labs, but first I can tell you that my own triglycerides are the lowest they've been my adult life and I'm sixty. My last one was 54. I've had the VAP and the majority of my LDL is the pattern A, large fluffy, harmless. HDL is great. VAP shows I'm insulin sensitive, I was heading toward insulin resistance.

I'm already pre diabetic with heart disease at age 67 with three brothers diabetic (one has already died from complications). I wish I known of the low carb diet when I was young because at age 25 I quit smoking and tried to eat right, tried is the key word there. I'm going to have to try hard to abstain from sweets so I can get better numbers. When I eat fast food I throw away the bread too, I grew up on the farm in the country and was always a big bread eater but it was a lot easier to give up bread than I thought it would be.

Dreams, I also do intermittent fasting, I eat once a day in a one to two hour window. Occasionally I shake things up and have a second meal. I tolerate this very well, with no crazy hunger issues, or low blood sugars. Ive lost more weight than I will admit to here on this blog, and I'm postmenopausal and hypothyroid. It CAN be done!

Dreams, all three of my siblings are also diabetic, insulin dependent. I'm the only one who has reversed my BS numbers down from, fasting BG's of 114 for a couple of years to low 90's.

I bake gluten free, low carb rolls, they are delicious and I enjoy sandwhiches a couple times a week. One of them is 6 carbs. Also have made lowcarb gluten free muffins, cookies, cheese cake etc. I do use sucralose, but I can't tolerate the sugar alcohols.

It's going to take me a while to read your whole blog, but it will be my pleasure!

AllieOop, I fast too, it is easier for me if I eat one meal a day rather than fast for 24 hours. I've always tried to keep my weight down which I guess is the reason I'm only pre diabetic so far though I've always had a sweet tooth especially after I quit smoking. I'm going to try hard to give up the sweets so I can get good numbers on my next blood work.

Sorry Spinelli, it's just that I'm on fire with passion about good health! I have been known to storm into bakeries and smash flour sacks and pour water on sugar. I should post my mug shot the last time I got arrested.